What did it
take to Survive in 2002? And more importantly, what does it take
for 2003. We have assembled a panel of Executives that have successfully
traversed the stormy economy and have shown the rest of the country
that there is growth and success in software and technology in
Southern California. With Colin Stewart, Technology Editor, Orange
County Register as our Moderator, we will have an open dialogue
with these Executives, exploring their good decisions as well
as bad ones that they made this year as well as getting their
predictions on what they see for 2003.
Moderator:
Colin Stewart, Technology Editor, Orange County Register
Speaker
Bios
Gene
Wang, CEO of Bitfone (Formerly
Digital Transit)
Chief Executive Officer and Chairman
Gene
has over 21 years of experience in leading successful high technology
companies and has participated as the CEO in three startups. Prior
to Bitfone, Gene was CEO and Chairman of Photo Access, where he
successfully sold its hardware business unit to Agilent Technologies
in August, 2000. Gene was the CEO of Computer Motion, which he
led through a successful IPO in August, 1997.
Gene was Executive Vice President at Symantec where he managed
four divisions and helped that company grow from $172 million
to $412 million in annual sales. Prior to this, Gene was VP and
General Manager at Borland, where he helped popularize the C++
programming language, selling over one million copies. Previously,
Gene was Vice President of Marketing at Gold Hill Computers. Gene
received a Bachelor's degree in Computer Science from the University
of California at Berkeley.
Chris
Harano CFO of Day Corporation
Chris Harano is Chief Financial Officer of Day. Previously he
has served at Day as Vice President of Corporate Development responsible
for building strategic relationships and expanding opportunities
for Day throughout the world. Prior to this, he held the position
of Day's CFO and Vice
President, Financial and Strategic Planning, since May 1999. He
served in an interim-CFO and financial advisor capacity to various
Internet-related ventures. Previously, Mr. Harano was a Director
in the Financial Advisory Services practice of Price Waterhouse
from 1994 to 1998. He also served as an auditor with PriceWaterhouse
from 1986 to 1988, and worked at a merger and acquisitions boutique
from 1989 to 1992.
Mr. Harano
holds an M.S. degree from the Sloan School of Management at Massachusetts
Institute of Technology (1994), a B.A. degree in economics from
University of California, Los Angeles (1986), and is a Certified
Public Accountant.
Ed Ojdana,
President of Experian
Consumer Direct
Ed Ojdana is president of Experian Consumer Direct, a division
that was created in 2002 to focus on the consumer credit management
market. Experian Consumer Direct combined the operations of CreditExpert,
Experian's consumer credit management group, and ConsumerInfo.com,
the largest provider of online credit reports and other credit-related
information to consumers. Ojdana founded ConsumerInfo in 1995
and continues to be responsible for all facets of the company's
business.
Ojdana originally sold ConsumerInfo to MemberWorks in 1999. In
February 2000, the company merged with eNeighborhoods to form
iPlace, and Ojdana became vice chairman and president of the company's
Consumer Services Group. He served in those positions until August
2001, when Homestore acquired iPlace and reestablished ConsumerInfo
as a distinct business entity. In 2002, ConsumerInfo became an
Experian company, and Ojdana took over Experian's direct-to-consumer
efforts.
Doug
Norman, CFO of Starbase Corporation
Douglas S. Norman - Chief Financial Officer, Secretary, Founder
of Starbase Corporation (Nasdaq), a leading provider of enterprise
managment solutions that address the full software development
lifecycle. Mr. Norman has over
16 years of experience in corporate finance and administration
in public high-technology companies. At Starbase, he has been
responsible for financial planning and reporting, accounting,
investor relations, legal and
human resources. Prior to joining Starbase as a member of the
founding team in 1991, he was Senior Financial Analyst at Ashton-Tate
Corp. (acquired by Borland in 1991). Prior to Ashton-Tate, Mr.
Norman was Senior Financial Analyst at Archive Corporation, a
provider of tape drive technology. Mr.
Norman holds a MBA from Loyola Marymount and a BS in Business
Administration from California State University, Long Beach.
F. Matthew Rhodes, SVP and President of Broadband Communications,
Conexant
F. Matthew Rhodes (43) — Senior Vice President and President
of the Broadband Communications business since June 2002. Prior
to his current position, Mr. Rhodes served as Senior Vice President
and General Manager of Conexant’s Personal Computing Division
from December 1998. Prior to
joining Conexant, he was Director of VLSI Technology at Pacific
Communications Sciences Inc,. Mr. Rhodes
received an M.B.A. in finance from the Anderson Graduate School
of Management of the University of California, Los Angeles, an
M.S. degree in electrical engineering from Lehigh University,
and a B.S. degree in physics from The Pennsylvania State University.
